The Passage of a Living Art

 

Posted by Horses For LIFE Magazine on May 15th, 2011

Just recently someone asked me how can we judge another horseman except by the works that he produces?

But in retrospect I was reminded of an article from Volume 41. The Passage of a Living Art. How fleeting this gift is, that exists between us and the horse.

Excerpt of The Passage of a Living Art

When one has had the blessing of learning from a truly gifted and/or difficult horse, the blessing cannot even begin to be described in words. The work of art that you create between the two of you is so unique, so uplifting, so life fulfilling, that it fills your soul and your heart. No wonder there are those who envisioned a Pegasus. A winged beast, a winged horse, because when your soul is first introduced to that magical moment you do feel like you are flying on the back of the horse, you truly understand the message, the concept of a Pegasus. Because you have flown, truly flown – as your horse takes you places that creates an understanding of life that reaches far beyond the two of you.

It has taken years, years of becoming wiser, for the horse to become physically stronger, for communication to expand to mere flickers of thoughts instantly translated, for both of you to explore movements that no one even begins to think about, let alone teach today.

Everything about who and what you are as a horseman is defined in the muscles of loins, in the passage of hooves of this one special horse. Everything about what you know sits there in front of you in gleaming coppery coats and flickering ear tips. And then the sublime art, the passion, the wings of all of who and what you are, is gone.

There are no words to describe the emptiness inside when the living art as expressed in the muscles and sinews of this mythical creature come alive, dies. Not only do you have the devastation of losing a piece of your heart, but you have lost your mentor, your teacher, your student, your success, your knowledge, the ability to show to others the amazing lessons you have learned.

Everything is gone.

I have cried losing a horse, but with this there are no tears. There is simply a void that will never again be filled. An emptiness of self, of experience; it is as if who and what you are, were, and know, is dead as well. And, truth be told, you are. A part of you is now dead.

No other artist can know what it is like to put all of yourself into one piece of art for literally years, always knowing it can only be temporary – that there is no permanence – that one day this will be gone. There are no ifs that it will be gone, it is a known, a given. The passage of cruel time ensures this.

We look at this amazing gift, the indescribable experience, the art that this horse has shown you, given you, has been the actual art itself, only to end.

In our equestrian world there is only one way for this art to continue even in a small part, and that is to pass a tiny little portion on to another living being. Whether to another horse or to another rider. To somehow find a way to pass along just a small portion of the experience, of the feeling, of the knowledge. In this way, through the generations, through the centuries, we continue to pass along the answers we have found, the art that was created and is now gone.

by nadja king